Rising country star Riley Green returned to NBC’s Today show on Monday (Jan. 13) to perform his current Top 20 and climbing single, “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”
Prior to his performance, the Alabama native spoke with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager about his meteoric rise to the top, admitting it’s been a bit of a “blur.” He also opened up about listing both of his grandfathers as co-writers on “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” and told the Today hosts that he wishes he would have had the opportunity to sit down and write a song with them as they were truly “one of a kind.”
Seated on a stool with just an acoustic guitar, Green delivered a captivating performance of the song and once again proved why he is one of country music’s brightest new acts.
“I wish even cars had truck beds / Every road was named Copperhead/ And coolers never run out of cold Bud Light / I wish high school home teams never lost / And backroad-drinking kids never got caught / I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high / I wish honky-tonks didn’t have no closing time / And I wish grandpas never died,” Green sang as personal photos of him and his grandfathers flashed on the screen behind him.
Riley Green’s performance comes on the heels of his recent iHeartRadio Music Awards nomination for Best New Country Artist. Green was also recently revealed as one of Country Radio Seminar‘s New Faces of Country Music class of 2020. Fans can catch Green on the road with Jason Aldean beginning January 30.
